biology

Ultrasaurus

Ultrasaurus is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ultrasaurus rather than just read about it. In short: Ultrasaurus (meaning "ultra lizard") is a dubious genus of sauropod dinosaur discovered by Haang Mook Kim in South Korea. However, the name was first used unofficially (as a nomen nudum) in 1979 by Jim Jensen to describe a set of giant dinosaur bones he discovered in the United States.

Key takeaways

Ultrasaurus belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ultrasaurus to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ultrasaurus from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Ultrasaurus (meaning "ultra lizard") is a dubious genus of sauropod dinosaur discovered by Haang Mook Kim in South Korea. However, the name was first used unofficially (as a nomen nudum) in 1979 by Jim Jensen to describe a set of giant dinosaur bones he discovered in the United States. Because Kim published the name for his specimen before Jensen could do so officially, George Olshevsky renamed the specimen as Ultrasauros. Jensen's giant sauropod was later found to be a chimera, and the type remains are now assigned to Supersaurus.

Mistaken assessments A collection of bones discovered by Jim Jensen, of Brigham Young University, at the Dry Mesa Quarry, Colorado were originally believed to belong to the largest dinosaur ever. Jensen informally called this supposedly new dinosaur "Ultrasaurus", and this name was widely used by the press and in scientific literature as a nomen nudum (informal name lacking an actual scientific description). In 1983, Haang Mook Kim published a paper describing a different specimen representing a new dinosaur species, which he named Ultrasaurus tabriensis, because he believed it was bigger than Supersaurus. However, Kim's assessment was incorrect; his dinosaur was much smaller than he believed, because he mistook a partial humerus for an ulna. Since Kim was the first to publish the name Ultrasaurus, the name officially applied to the South Korean sauropod, and could no longer be used as an official name for Jensen's giant specimen. Jensen published a paper describing his original discovery in 1985, but since the name Ultrasaurus was already in use (or "preoccupied"), George Olshevsky renamed it to Ultrasauros in 1991 based on Jensen's suggestion. However, Jensen's discovery was a chimera, as the collection of fossils came from two different dinosaur genera Supersaurus and Brachiosaurus, both of which already had names. So the new name, Ultrasauros, is now considered as a junior synonym for the dinosaur officially known as Supersaurus.

Description Ultrasaurus lived 100 to 110 million years ago, during the Aptian and Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous. It is known from the holotype DGBU-1973, which consists of part of the dinosaur's front leg or “hand” (humerus) initially mistaken as the upper (proximal) end of the right medial forearm (ulna), and DGBU-1978-A, a single tailbone (vertebrae) from the Gugyedong Formation, belonging to the Hayang Group.

Classification Kim's Ultrasaurus is currently a nomen dubium. Not enough is known about the specimen to formally assign it to a specific family of sauropods.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ultrasaurus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ultrasaurus claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ultrasaurus before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ultrasaurus ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ultrasaurus

In research: Ultrasaurus appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ultrasaurus in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ultrasaurus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Albian dinosaurs, Dinosaur genera, Dinosaurs of South Korea, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ultrasaurus outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Ultrasaurus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ultrasaurus means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ultrasaurus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ultrasaurus in simple terms?

Why does Ultrasaurus matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ultrasaurus?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ultrasaurus.